Jesus doesn’t become glorious on the mountain. He has always been glorious, from before the beginning of time, from before the foundations of the world. In the Transfiguration, we find the veil being pulled back and Jesus is seen and revealed as he truly is! Continue reading Behold and Beholding the Glory
All we lyke lost shepe have gone astray, but praise be to God that the Good Shepherd’s mercy is more, his forgiveness is stronger, his grace is amazing, and his love is unrelenting. Continue reading Lyke Lost Shepe
Maundy Thursday is charged with so much historical electricity, such thick theological meaning that you can’t take a step or two without bumping into a significant biblical theme. It’s like a one-pot meal: Passover, Eucharist, sacrificial lambs, foot washing, stripping the altar, pain, passion, servitude, glory, forgiveness, and divine love all mixed together. Continue reading Do You Know What I have Done To You?
On this Fifth Sunday in Lent, the final Sunday before the Sunday of the Passion and the commencing of Holy Week, the lectionary offers us up a heavy and necessary dose of hopeful fortification for the things to come. After the pomp and circumstance of next week’s procession of palms, we will be thrust into the depths of the crucifixion, into the agony of the cross and tragically tremendous terror that is the fallenness of humanity. It will be so easy for us to enter into the narrative and lose sight of the fact that Jesus is not helpless in his hour of need, but rather the Powerful One has allowed himself to be powerless that humanity’s perpetual propensity for sin might extinguish and exhaust itself upon his life and body. Continue reading Substitutiary Locomotion?
This was originally published in 2018 for our (then) parish blog. It has been altered and updated for St. David’s by the Sea Episcopal Church where I now serve as Rector. Memory and thanksgiving. They are part and parcel of the Christian life, friends. One could sum up the whole of Israel’s life in the … Continue reading All Saints and All Souls
My boys are growing up. Sure, they’re still little— not even teenagers at this point!—but they are getting older. The bittersweet reality of parenting is that children grow and transform before your very eyes and while you are excited about who they are becoming, you are also left with a sadness over each closing of … Continue reading A Return to the Familiar
Liturgy helps us answer the question, How then shall we pray? Continue reading A Liturgy During a Pandemic
We are not awaiting the thief to come in the night. While the second coming might be compared to a thief coming in the night, please remember that we are actually talking about the return of the King, the coming of the One who has a rightful claim to the throne and who will judge all things and put the world to rights. Jesus is coming, both King of kings and Lord of lords, and our call is to prepare our hearts for his return, even as we reflectively prepare to celebrate his birth once more. May we be found faithful and vigilant. Continue reading Constant Vigilance: A Sermon for Advent 1
All that exists is God’s gift to man, and it all exists to make God known to man, to make man’s life communion with God. It is divine love made food, made life for man. God blesses everything He creates, and, in biblical language, this means that He makes all creation the sign and means of His presence and wisdom, love and revelation. (For the Life of the World) Continue reading Anglican Spiritual Formation: Worship
Originally published by Resonance: A Theological Journal in Vol 4.3 on “The Trinity.” Trinitarian worship has often been described as “to the Father, through the Son, and by/in the Spirit.”[1] While this is true, very little has been articulated as to how this reality is envisioned and enacted liturgically. This essay will seek to examine the … Continue reading On Trinitarian Worship
Porter C. Taylor 